The pasos of Seville's Holy Week: actual times, examples, and when to see them for free
A paso leaves its church, crosses the Carrera Oficial and returns hours later, sometimes in the small hours. With real examples from 2025 and 2026, this guide explains when and where to see them without paying, which figures exist and which do not.
A paso in Seville's Holy Week is the processional float, usually carrying an image of Christ or of the Virgin, borne by costaleros (the bearers hidden underneath) and accompanied by nazarenos (hooded penitents) and music. Each brotherhood takes one or two pasos out of its church, crosses part of the city and enters the Carrera Oficial, the official route, before heading back.
Departures cluster between 12:00 and 16:00 and the passage along the Carrera Oficial between 16:30 and 22:30, but there are important exceptions at both ends, as the examples below show.
What time do the pasos go out and come back, in real examples?
Times vary by brotherhood and by day. Some examples from 2025 and 2026, with their source:
- La Borriquita, Palm Sunday 2026: leaving at 14:15, the Campana at 15:35, the Cathedral at 17:00 and the palio back in at 22:00, according to El País. 20minutos published a different sequence for the same paso: leaving at 14:35 and back in at 18:25.
- La Cena, Palm Sunday 2026: leaving at 14:00, the Campana at 15:50, the Cathedral at 17:20 and back in between 21:15 and 22:00.
- El Cerro, Holy Tuesday 2026: leaving at 11:40, the Campana at 16:40, the Cathedral at 18:05 and back in between 1:00 and 2:00.
- San Pablo, Holy Monday 2025: leaving at 11:30, onto the Carrera Oficial at 16:15, off it at 18:24 and back in its church at 1:50, some 14 h 20 in the streets.
- El Cachorro, Good Friday 2025: leaving at 15:45, on the Carrera Oficial at 19:10 and back in at 2:35.
- El Sol, Holy Saturday 2026: leaving at 12:45, the Campana at 17:15, the Cathedral at 18:40 and the palio back in at 22:55.
- La Resurrección, Easter Sunday 2026: leaving at 8:30, the Campana at 10:55, the Cathedral at 12:25 and the palio back in at 16:30, the earliest day and, according to the guides, the least crowded.
The note on La Borriquita is deliberate: two leading newspapers publish different sequences for the same paso on the same day. No source settles which is right, so both are shown here.
Where can you see the pasos for free?
Any stretch of a route outside the Carrera Oficial is free: you just stand in the street. The Carrera Oficial (the Campana, Calle Sierpes, Avenida de la Constitución, Plaza de San Francisco, the Cathedral) is the only stretch with paid chairs and boxes, detailed in the 2026 chairs and boxes guide.
The least crowded times, according to the guides, are the mornings from Monday to Wednesday and Easter Sunday. The Madrugá, with departures between 0:00 and 3:00 and returns between 7:00 and 13:00, is the busiest moment, though there is no official figure for people per hour.
Telling a palio paso (the Virgin under a canopy) from a misterio paso (a scene of the Passion), or a costalero from a nazareno, changes what you see in the street. Brotherhood-themed guided tours in Seville explain that vocabulary before the big week.
See guided tours and activities in Seville →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.How many brotherhoods go out, and how many people do they draw?
In 2026, 71 brotherhoods make their station of penance, compared with 58 in 2007 and 47 in 1999, according to a University of Seville study. In 2025 there were more than 130 processions over nine days, counting both palio and misterio pasos.
Extended public transport carried 2,511,643 passengers, 22.9 % more than in 2024 and 17.8 % more than in 2023 in 2025, according to the City Council. It is the most recent and solid figure for movement linked to the week, although it does not equal the number of spectators in the street.
Photo: PEPE GADEIRAS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
How much is Seville's Holy Week worth economically?
Here the sources contradict each other and this guide does not pick a side. In 2025 the mayor of Seville put the week's impact at 500 million euros, without detailing the method. The Junta de Andalucía had estimated 478 million euros in tourism revenue, 18% more than in 2023 for the whole region in 2024.
These figures cover different areas and years and cannot be compared directly: one concerns the city of Seville alone in 2025, the other the whole of Andalusia in 2024. The last consolidated study with a documented method is still the 2009 one, with 240.3 million euros of total impact and 909,000 people, around 215,000 of them from outside Seville and its metropolitan area taking part.
The pasos with the most hours in the street, such as El Cachorro or San Pablo, are also the ones that draw the biggest crowds along the Carrera Oficial. Staying within walking distance saves you relying on the extended public transport.
See places to stay for the Holy Week dates →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.What has not been published about the pasos?
- The total number of chairs and boxes along the whole Carrera Oficial, section by section.
- An hour-by-hour crowd curve, street by street: there are only qualitative estimates.
- An up-to-date economic impact figure with a method comparable to 2009: the recent figures from the mayor and the Junta cover different areas.
- Official times for 2023 and 2024 as detailed as those for 2025 and 2026: the local press covered them unevenly.
The full calendar of the week is in the general guide, the routes by day in the official 2026 itinerary and the times day by day in the 2026 timetable guide.
Outside Holy Week, central Seville moves at a different pace and a different price. A three-star hotel costs between €90 and €150 a night outside the peaks, according to 2026 guides.
Compare places to stay in Seville →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.Sources
- El País: Seville Holy Week 2026 programme, dates, times and routes, 27 March 2026.
- 20minutos: Seville Holy Week 2026 guide, all procession dates and times, 26 March 2026.
- Europa Press: times for San Pablo (Holy Monday 2025, 9 April 2025) and El Cerro (Holy Tuesday 2025).
- Estadio Deportivo: times for El Cachorro and other Good Friday and Holy Saturday 2025 brotherhoods.
- Hermandades de Sevilla: official times and routes, and approval of the Holy Week configuration.
- Seville City Council, via Europa Press: extended public transport passengers, 21 April 2025.
- Junta de Andalucía (Regional Ministry of Tourism): regional tourism impact 2024, Europa Press, 2 April 2024.
- Chamber of Commerce and University of Seville: 2009 economic impact and participation study, published in 2010.
Times and figures carry their year and are reviewed with each edition. Where two sources contradict each other, both versions are cited.
Frequently asked questions
What time do the pasos go out in Seville's Holy Week?
Can you see the Seville pasos for free?
How many brotherhoods take pasos out in Seville in 2026?
How much money does Seville's Holy Week bring in?
Marta Bermúdez
Marta spent five years on the front desk of a hotel in the centre, answering the same questions about parking and the metro every day. She writes the pages she would have liked to hand to her guests. She checks every fare on the operator's website, never in a guidebook.
